The small plastic bass boat...undersized gimmick, or great budget boat option?

INSTANT VERDICT, SUBJECT TO CHANGE:

THE GOOD: Take it anywhere you have more than 5 inches of water. Stable and maneuverable. Easy to handle, even with one person. Cheap to buy, zero maintenance to speak of. Comfortable for one person. Can mount a gas and trolling motor at the same time. Allows you to fish lakes and rivers where jet-skis and 200 hp pleasure boats cannot go. 

THE BAD: It's small. Carrying two degrades the fun somewhat. Slow, even with an appropriate outboard. No storage to speak of. Could be at a huge disadvantage in open water. 

THE VERDICT: I love this thing. And you will too, as long as you realize it's limitations. 

I've been out of the boat game for many years now. I had a 14 foot aluminum boat that was nice, but kind of a pain to handle because of it's size and weight. Even though it had a trailer, it could be challenging to launch and recover. Without a dedicated boat launch, it wasn't practical to use by one person. I kept it for over 20 years and sold it at a profit when I finally got rid of it. 

I tried a canoe for a while, but a canoe is just not fun to fish out of. It was low to the water, tippy, and hard to maneuver. Even with an electric motor, it's a long reach back to the motor mount. Granted, it was fast when under power, but it was also hard to get it to turn because of it's length. And, hit the power when you had the motor sideways and you were going swimming. 

I had looked at these small plastic bass boats for a while. They seemed like a good solution to the obstacles that kept me from going fishing. I put the word out that I was looking for one, and one of my in-laws turned me on to this one which I picked up for $500. It was a 2016 model, and it looked to be in mostly good condition. 

The particular model I ended up with was a SunDolphin Sportsman 8, but it hardly matters. There are tons of these boats sold under various trade names (Field and Stream Angler, Pond Prowler, Bass Buster, etc.) and they all follow the same formula...two piece plastic clam-shell design for the top and bottom, filled with foam, and a tunnel hull/mini pontoon configuration. Usually, they come in 8' or 12' foot configurations, and from the name, you can see mine is an 8. I haven't seen any functional difference between any of them...just minor cosmetic details. 

Once I had the registration transferred, I began outfitting it. One of the seats was missing. I took the remaining seat to the local high school and had the welding shop kids use it as a pattern to fabricate a new one. Using an old plastic chair top, I mounted it to the base with a swivel I got from Amazon for $11. I was then up and running with a second swivel seat, which actually is more comfortable than the one from the factory. 

As part of the deal, I got a 55 lb thrust Newport Vessels trolling motor, so that was taken care of. Let me say, 55lb thrust moves the little boat with authority, even on a windy day. This was into the wind on power level 2. 

I also got a deep cycle battery in good condition. First order of business was to get a gas outboard for some of the larger lakes around here. And I also ended up getting a lithium ion battery to replace the deep cycle so that I would have more electric range and my payload would be lighter. Good part is, the Sportsman 8 has motor mounts front and back, so you can have a gas outboard and an electric. How cool is that?

So, am I happy with my purchase? Weather has kept me from testing extensively, but the little I have gotten to use it I have enjoyed. Let's look at several aspects of the boat in more detail.

Size - I thought this would be a major problem, but it isn't. The boat seems plenty spacious enough to be comfortable, even for being out on the water all day. You can only really put your feet up if you have your chair pointed straight ahead or on a 3/4 angle...if you turn it sideways, your feet might dangle over. Of course, I'm taller than the average person, so that might not be an issue for someone else. 

I keep the battery/trolling motor up front and gas and oil in the back, just in case I need to refill either on the fly. Making the seat supports arched means you can keep stuff under them. I'm considering building a box and mounting it to the seat to add some extra storage...because there is none. No compartments, no boxes, no bins, etc. Just detents on the sides of the boat where you can put cups, cans, or bottles. I store fishing rods along one side and the paddle on the other, just because that seems to be the best place to put them. Adding permanent storage would involve drilling directly into the boat. Not sure what's behind the plastic, but this may be something I attempt at some point. 

Two people in the 8 foot version approaches the limits of what I would want to do for an extended period of time. You really are close to the other person, but not enough to make fishing impossible. It does feel cramped and you have to be really careful that you do not end up tangling with the other person. 

Durability - The thing is built like a tank. It weighs around 100 lbs, according to online sources...I'd say that's accurate. It doesn't feel floppy, wobbly, or twisty like a canoe. The bottom of mine has some scratches, but it doesn't appear to be anything close to damage that would cause a catastrophic failure. Something you will notice and perhaps become alarmed...some water does collect between the top and bottom clamshell parts. They are NOT sealed, nor do they really need to be, since the insides of the boat are foam. On mine, there's a plug at the front that allows the water that collects internally to drain. It's not necessary, because when you stand the boat on it's nose, the water seeps out of the seam around the front. Do this occasionally if the water inside bothers you, but thus far, I haven't noticed a large amount of water collecting and didn't notice that it affected performance when using the boat. 

Ease of handling - One person can easily launch and land this boat. I carry it in a utility trailer without issues. On the water, it's very predictable and performs like you would expect. Don't enter any races with it. With a 2hp gas motor, expect about 4-5 mph, which means you'll be able to outrun most paddlers and trolling motor powered boats. 

Versatility - About the only place you wouldn't want to go with this is on open water. Outside of that, ponds, rivers, and small lakes are all within reach. I even navigated some shoals with it without any problems. You literally can fish in places that other boats couldn't dream of going. Seasonally navigable small creeks are now on the table for fishing. 

Cost - I'd never buy one of these new. I estimate I saved between $300-500 buying secondhand, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with mine. You might get lucky like I did and get the trolling motor and battery thrown in on the deal as well. That puts it well within the range of even someone on a limited income, provided they can save up for a while. 

Final Word - You know you will have limitations in what amounts to basically an 8.5' by 3.5' space. But if you understand that going in and accept these boats for what they are, you will be very happy with what you can do with one of these. I don't mind tying up a few hundred in a boat/motor package that I can launch and recover myself and doesn't take up much space when it's not being used. And, at the price point, a cheap gas outboard greatly increases the range, making this a serious vessel for use on small rivers and medium sized lakes, especially those with horsepower limitations. The price point is reasonable enough that you could even use this as a second boat, just for small bodies of water when you didn't want to use a larger boat. 

I plan to do a lot of testing this summer and of course I will report my experiences here. I'm excited to get started. 

What happened to Fubo TV?

 

INSTANT VERDICT, SUBJECT TO CHANGE:
The Good: Wide selection of channels. Good selection of sports. 
The Bad: Slow streaming, scammy-feeling price increases, long hold times with customer service, wonky issues with your locality changing without warning. 
The Verdict: If you can make do with any other service (i.e., if you don't need sports) then go with the other service instead. 

Last year, we cut the cord in our household and signed up for Fubo TV. We were able to get all of the channels that we had with our old cable system for approximately half the price. For the first several months, we were quite happy with the service, even going so far as to recommend it to my parents.

After a while, we started noticing slowdowns and buffering. We use a Roku to stream, and the slowdowns were only happening on the Fubo app, and not on Youtube or any other streaming service. If the service didn't stop completely, the quality would drop down to what looked like 240p and was nearly unwatchable. Resetting the Roku to factory didn't help, neither did switching out the Roku for a new one. 

To add insult to injury, when I looked at this months bill, I found that it had increased from $79.99 to just shy of $100. 

Of course, I had been sending all of Fubo's emails directly to my spam folder, so I missed the notification. I did this because they sent an excessive number of emails. 

So naturally, I missed the one informing me of the rate increase. The justification was a $5 base rate increase to $84.99, plus a $10.99 increase for the "regional sports network", and an additional $3 for an additional RSN. Doesn't matter if you want it or not, or whether you watch it or not, if regional sports networks are included with your package (such as the Elite, which we subscribe to) you MUST pay the fee. It's not optional.  So, they'll advertise their price for the Elite as $84.99, but they'll add on the regional sports fee to push that right to $100. And that's not even the top level service.  

So, Fubo literally increased our rates by almost 25% overnight. That's scammy. 

Of course, they tell you that the fee isn't mandatory if you live in an area where there are no regional sports networks. How many areas in the country fit that description? I'll bet it's less than a dozen. 

Here's a good one...this evening, we noticed that our local networks had changed. I looked up the call letters on the ABC affiliate and found out that it was over 450 miles and a whole time zone away from my house. I was on hold for 1/2 hour before I could get the issue straightened out, and it involved a callback and an email to fix. 

Unfortunately, it's starting to feel a lot like the bad old days of cable and satellite. Bundling services you don't want, scammy business practices and phantom price increases. 

Disgraceful. If you don't need the sports programming, my advice is to look elsewhere. 

What Happened to Amazon?

 

THE INSTANT VERDICT, SUBJECT TO CHANGE:
The Pros: They have everything. If you can't find it, it doesn't exist. Sometimes the reviews are useful.
The Cons: Literally everything else. Prime costs more and ships slower, the Marketplace is as unregulated as the Wild West, and it's nearly impossible to get customer service to step in on your behalf. The sellers can tell you anything they want, and they don't have to stand by it.
The Verdict: Maybe good for product reviews, but take those with a grain of salt since sellers game the system. For all other purposes, if you can shop elsewhere, do it. 

I can remember when Amazon was the premier place on the Internet for customer service. You could get anything and be assured that it would work the way you wanted or you could at least get all or some of your money back.

Consider about 7-8 years ago when I ordered my mother a tablet. The seller touted a one year warranty and the price was right. I got it for her and it started having problems almost right out of the gate. 

I contacted the seller,  who informed me that it had a one year warranty if I chose to order the one year warranty. Needless to say, this did not please me. I contacted Amazon and explained the situation. They said to send the tablet back and they would refund the money minus a small restocking fee. I felt this was a decent resolution and took advantage. This was the way I expected Amazon to operate so I made purchases without much worry or care that I would be taken care of in the event of something going wrong.

Fast forward to 2020. I ordered an ebike from a seller on Amazon, which was supposedly warrantied for a year. Later, he revised the listing to cover only six months. Regardless, I had a major failure within that six month period. He refused to honor the warranty, instead asking me to perform a series of tests on the bike using a volt meter and a video camera to do all manner of things that ranged from the absurd to the ridiculous (including disassembling parts of the bike myself, or asking me to take it to a bike shop and send him the bill.  I couldn't find a bike shop that would work on it). 

Did I mention that they offered a $40 discount to write a 5 star review of their product? Yep. I got a card and everything encouraging me to sing their praises in return for some cash. Not only did Amazon know about this (because I told them), they apparently kept doing it long after my purchase.

I petitioned Amazon to intervene, especially when he refused to honor the warranty. I even asked if it was permitted to just say that there was a warranty then refuse to honor it. Of course, their answer was no, but they did nothing but ask the seller to work with me and refused to make the seller take down his ridiculous claim of having a warranty on his products. 

Really and truly, Amazon left me on my own. That was a hard one to swallow, as I paid close to $600 for the bike. Eventually, the seller did agree to a partial refund of $250, but that hardly came close to covering my losses. 

Recently, I bought a lithium battery for my trolling motor. Again, I went to Amazon. The item got good reviews, so I placed my order, dropping $300 without worrying. The battery manufacturer supposedly warrantied their products for a year, but as I read the negative reviews of the battery, which were admittedly few, the biggest problems came with trolling motor usage. And people who tried to get refunds were tearing their hair out just as I had. 

Reminders of the ebike fiasco were starting to rear their ugly heads. People had the same complaints I had with the seller of the ebike...he was not honoring his warranty, he was asking the purchaser to jump through a bunch of hoops, and so on. So, I decided to cancel my order, but I couldn't because it had already shipped. They told me I would have to return it. So, I went to the item page and started to initiate a return. Lo and behold, batteries are unreturnable. Now, anything that USES a battery is just fine, but apparently batteries themselves cannot be returned. 

It seems like, when these items are in your cart, instead of upselling a membership to Amazon Prime, they could have a message that popped up, informing you that some items in your cart are unreturnable. But no. 

Fine. I'll add the protection plan. Got on a chat with customer service, who informed me that there was no way to add the protection plan after the fact. Fantastic. 

Amazon's protection plans are through Allstate/Square Trade. I went to that site and talked to the rep, who said that I indeed could buy one. Go to the battery page, find the offer for the protection plan. Instead of clicking the checkbox, just click the link to open the page for the protection plan. Add it to the cart, checkout, come back to the Allstate site with the order number, and add it there to your plans. 

It wasn't hard at all, but I was still mystified why Amazon didn't want to help me. And, in the chat with the Amazon reps, I ended up getting transferred three times before I was finally told no. 

It seems that Amazon is now riddled with apathy and incompetence. Almost as if it's a cash cow being milked to support other products or endeavors. I guess failing newspapers and rocketships be expensive, yo. 

It really seems like they don't care. That's why I rarely shop on Amazon any more. eBay prices for similar products are often cheaper, and if I pay with PayPal I can get protection for my purchases. In fact, PayPal has been known to go somewhat overboard in siding with buyers in many cases. 

Or, I can buy a product on Walmart.com, usually at a price within $5 of what I find on Amazon. In most cases, I can return any product to the store within 30 days and get a full refund. I've done this before, in fact...once I bought a Telecaster guitar kit that wasn't as advertised...went online, chose "Return to Store" and walked right in to my local Walmart with the product and a reference number in-hand. Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy. No questions or hassle. 

And they even allow this for batteries.

Why would I take a chance with Amazon when I can do that? 

In general here are some good practices to follow to help keep from getting burned online. 

1. If the product is warrantied from a known entity with good customer service, like Honda, Panasonic, Minn Kota, Dell, etc., then you can feel safe taking your chances after doing a bit of research. If these manufacturers advertise a warranty, it most likely is legitimate. 

2. If the product name is nonsensical or not common English, beware. Koosan, BuyLife, BestWon, VANMUST, TopsRock, Hingkuai, etc. Some of these products might be quite good, but some may also be terrible. You have no way of knowing. Reviews aren't reliable, and even if you know someone who has one, that's a sample of one and is hardly indicative of the whole. Nonetheless, you CAN learn a lot by reading the negative reviews, as they are the ones most likely to be accurate. 

3. Watch YouTube reviews. Some are paid promotions, but many are ordinary people who like to share information to help people to make informed decisions. One of the deciding factors, for example, in my recent outboard motor purchase was the video series by the user Gurra detailing his experience with a particular Chinese outboard motor. Look for reviews by people who have a significant number of non-review videos...the people who make a variety of videos are less likely to be sponsored.

4. If the product falls in the "nonsensical or unpronounceable" category and costs over $150, just get the extended protection plan. Especially on marketplace type sites with private sellers, the warranties mean nothing and there will be nobody there to enforce that warranty if the seller decides to ignore you. The protection plan will add only a little more than a tenth of the item cost to the total, so get it and be done with it. Figure it as part of the cost of the product. 

In many ways, it seems that customer service has gone backwards as time goes on. But the fact is, most retailers are out to make a buck and individual sellers game the system. You, the customer, will suffer as a result, so it's in your best interest to look out for yourself in any way you can. 

Hangkai 4 HP 4 Stroke Outboard

INSTANT VERDICT SUBJECT TO CHANGE:

The Good: Inexpensive. Easy to start. Based on proven designs.

The Bad: Have to learn maintenance/operation/servicing on the fly due to poor/wrong/absent documentation. Noisy. 

Verdict: Seems good so far, but jury's out. 

There are about a thousand of these small, air cooled outboard engines on eBay, Amazon, Walmart.com, etc. They seem too good to be true if you're in the market for a small outboard as I was. I didn't want something to set out and cross the Great Lakes...I just wanted something to allow me to hit the local reservoirs with my Sun Dolphin Sportsman 8 when there was too much water to cover with my Newport Vessels 55lb thrust electric. 

After agonizing over the little there is on the Internet and watching video after video (specifically, Youtube user Gurra has a great long-term series on this motor) I finally settled on the Hangkai 4 horsepower 4 stroke and pulled the trigger.  Now, there are subtle variations of this motor, but they are all basically the same. A Chinese Honda GXV50 4 stroke clone sitting atop what is said to be a Suzuki clone lower unit. Some are top exhaust, some are side (mine is side). Some are Hangkai branded, some are generic. But they are all built on the same platform. The genetics are good, but as we all know, anything from China can kind of get lost in the translation. 

I plan to do long-term follow ups periodically, so you can check back from time to time to see how it's going, so that others won't have to fly blind as I did. I got the motor from Walmart.com, which is handy, because if it's a total disaster, I can return it to the store in 30 days. I also got the 4 year plan from Allstate to cover any issues, because getting a warranty from the manufacturer/seller is completely hit or miss (don't get me started on Amazon-I'll save that for a later post). My general rule is, if it's over $150, and it's not a brand name I can easily pronounce, I'm getting the optional coverage.

The total cost was just shy of $350 with tax, free shipping, and extended warranty. It arrived in 3 days from a warehouse in New Jersey via FedEx, which was surprisingly good for them. Opening the box, it appeared to be in excellent shape. There was a motor, a tool kit, some spares (shear pin, cotter pin, etc), but no manual. From what I understand, this is not a big loss because the manual that ships with some is not helpful, and sometimes outright wrong. 

Unboxing. You get a tool kit, but no manual.

My motor looked completely generic. Not one word of English on the outside. Lots of Chinese. Everything else in pictograms...choke, a flaming triangle on the gas tank, etc. No horsepower markings anywhere on it. A curious thing...the gas cap has a pictogram for gas and oil...please be careful and realize that these are 4 stroke engines and you do not mix the gas with the oil. 

One of the issues that people have with this motor is that some ship with oil in the lower unit, and some do not. Also, some have a port in the lower that allows you to check, and some do not. Mine had no port, so the only option was to pull the prop and shear pin, pull the two bolts holding the gearbox cover in place, and pull that cover off. Luckily, mine had oil in it. Unluckily, I didn't realize that there was some compression within the gearbox that kept the gearbox cover from sitting flush. So, I put the first bolt in place and tightened it down, not realizing that the other side of the cover was not flush. So, when I started the bolt, it wasn't lining up correctly in the lower unit...and it stripped, the lower being aluminum. I tried several methods to fix it before I finally drilled it out, tapped it for a larger bolt, put that bolt in place and cut it off flush. I was then able to centerpunch and drill the new bolt hole to the correct size and replace the bolt. A moment of carelessness that cost me several hours time and a lot of headache. 

In the process, I destroyed the gasket behind the cover. Fortunately, there was another one in the tool kit provided with the engine. I'll be taking it back apart after 10 hours to replace the gear oil, because I have seen that recommendation somewhere on the Internet, so I'll probably buy some gasket material and cut a new one.

So, it was the next day before I was able to proceed any further. I filled the engine with 5W-30. It takes almost exactly 1/4 of a quart to get to the top of the full range on the dipstick. From what I've read, those that ship with manuals are completely wrong on this, leading people to over-fill the engine oil, which causes a lot of smoke in the best case scenario, or fouls the plug and possibly damages the engine in the worst. I had no such problems. These engines require high octane gas. I bought exactly $5 worth of 91 octane and plan to use that for the remainder of summer so I'll probably put some stabilizer in it. Of course, everyone recommends that you use ethanol free gas, but I've found that if you don't leave gas sitting in the tank or carb, you rarely have any issues running small engines on ethanol. 

Hour meter installed under the engine

One other thing I did...I added an hour meter. I highly recommend this for any small engine application, and I also did this on my Champion 1000 watt inverter generator. Basically, if it has a spark plug, you can add an hour meter to it. Just wrap the lead around the spark plug wire 5 times and run it to your meter, which can be mounted to any clean surface with some 3M tape. It takes the guesswork out of maintenance and makes it easy to keep up. Search eBay for "inductive hour meter" and you'll see items similar to the one pictured. I went with the cheapest and ended up paying $7.95 for mine. 

Mounted on the Sun Dolphin Sportsman 8

That done, it was ready to go. Since these engines are air cooled, you can do some testing with them on dry land. I put a splash of gas in the tank. Hit the primer bulb until I saw gas returning from the carb. Turned the choke on. The engine roared to life on the third pull. In less than 30 seconds, I was able to turn the choke off and let the engine settle into a nice idle. The drive system is clutched, so at low engine RPM, the prop does not turn. I varied the speeds to allow for a break in. Really, I need to run it under a load for a bit as well during break-in, so I didn't have it running for a long time. But, it ran. 

It wasn't the quietest thing I've ever heard, either. Other users extend and re-route the exhaust to quiet it somewhat, and I'll be doing the same. 

Some things to consider...the throttle does NOT stay where you put it. When you release the handle, the throttle returns to idle. Not super handy if you want to use the motor to troll while fishing, or if you want to reverse by spinning the engine around backward (there is no reverse gear). It really needs a weaker throttle spring, but it's also a safety feature, because if I should fall off the boat, the motor will go to idle and the prop (and the boat) will stop completely. Another thing, because of the side exhaust and the wiring/cabling, it is very difficult to pivot the handle over to use the motor in reverse. 

The brass screw that I assume adjusts high speed. Or, maybe not...

Sometimes, it seemed to be a little rough at higher RPM. Besides the throttle stop, there was only one adjustment on the carb that I could see...a brass screw right on the top. I gave it a 1/2 turn and it seemed to smooth out. Could have been my imagination, but it seemed to do better. 

Every hot start after that was effortless, choke-less, and on the first pull. It really is an easy engine to start. 

And that's as far as I went today. I hope to put the boat on the water sometime this week or next weekend to test real-world performance, and when that happens, I'll be back with an update. 

UPDATE: First test of the Hangkai in the water is in the books, and I'm still not regretting my purchase. I put the Hangkai on the back of my Sun Dolphin Sportsman 8 and took it over 3 miles upstream in my local river. The only reason I stopped was because I hit a set of shoals and I didn't feel like walking the boat up them. Otherwise, I could have kept going. 

The Hangkai performed as I would expect any outboard. Choke on the first start, single pull for every start after that. It does not use much gas. Yes, it's kinda loud, but it makes up for it by being slow. Honestly, this is not a four hoursepower engine. The Honda GXV50 is only rated at two, and I'm sure there's no magic in this Chinese design that doubles the horsepower. But, I was aware of that going in. The Hangkai would push the little Sun Dolphin up the river at 4-5 mph, according to GPS. I'm sure it went faster coming back down, but I didn't take a measurement. 

Other than an occasional stumble at part throttle, the Hangkai showed no issues. It started and ran every time I pulled the cord. I'll keep my eye on the stumble, but later in the day, that issue seemed to subside. 

So, the jury is still out, but I'm happy with how the motor is performing as of now. 

UPDATE: I ran into another boater who was using the Hangkai outboard. His was almost identical to mine but had a red cover instead of black. He told me he'd had his for two years and had not had a single issue with it. He said that earlier in the year, he had trouble starting it, but took the old gas out and replaced it and it started right up. He said that he did nothing special with the engine and stored it outside year-round on his boat. 

It's nice to get another data point. Seems these engines are more solid than many give them credit for being. 

Ride 1 Up Core 5 750 Watt Class 3 Ebike Long Term Review

INSTANT VERDICT SUBJECT TO CHANGE:

The Good: Relatively inexpensive for the quality. Powerful. Reliable.

The Bad: Thermal cutoff can be a bit over enthusiastic, but it saves the motor. Why does it eat spokes? 

Verdict: If you want a cool looking, no frills ebike of premium quality for not-a-lot of money, this is the ticket. 

Earlier, I had a joke of an experience with a Chinese Vivi ebike that I got from Amazon. To be fair, there was only one flaw with the Vivi...the lack of overload/thermal protection. Had I known, I could have installed a 10 amp fuse between the controller and the motor, or the battery and controller, and it probably would still be running today. That was literally the only problem I experienced with it when I had it.

But, it was a big one.

This time, I was going to do my homework and make sure that I got something that the company would stand behind.

I read a ton of articles about budget ebikes and the Ride1up Core 5 kept coming up over and over again.

It was more expensive than the Vivi. In fact, about twice as expensive.

So, it should be twice as good, lol.

I read about Ride1up and their philosophy. They basically pick and choose solid quality components at a reasonable price and that's what goes into their bikes. There's not much proprietary on them, which makes them easy to work on should something go wrong. For example, the control display is a KD21C Adjustable Speed LCD. They're a common display and you can buy replacements on eBay. Same with the cassette, which is a 7 speed Shimano 11-32t. Also available on eBay. And of course, you can get replacements directly from Ride1up.



Complete specs.

So I sent them an email explaining my situation with the Vivi and asking how that would NOT be repeated if I bought from them. An excerpt:

Bottom line is, I would love to buy a Ride1up, but what happens if it breaks? How do I get it fixed? I literally live in the middle of nowhere. The nearest shopping mall is 60 miles away. The nearest bike shop is 40 miles away, and they don't carry Ride1Up bikes nor do they service them. I guess what I'm asking is, what if I have trouble during the warranty period? Afterward? How do you handle issues with the bikes? Also, is there some sort of thermal overload protection built into your bikes? Would it be possible to install a fuse somewhere to prevent the motor/controller from burning up like on my last one?

Their response:

We have a support team on staff available M-F 8-5 PST. You would be the eyes and ears, while they would provide the knowledge and know how. The better the pictures and videos are the better the support can trouble shoot and help if anything were to come up. We strive to keep our bikes on the roads, as that is where they belong! We have built them to stay there, so if you do come across any of the rare issues that pop up, we will work hard to remedy it. They also are willing to work with bike shops if ever your shop wants to keep up with the times and provide quality service to the future of biking. As for overload, we have fuses and protections built in :]

Bike shops around here are not an option in reality. They only tend to work on what they sell, which is fine. I'm mechanically inclined, so if I have someone to walk me through troubleshooting steps, I can probably get to the root of any problems. And from all accounts, this would be in my native language, not Chinglish.

So, I got the bike. Price delivered was $1005 after a coupon code. Very reasonable as far as ebikes are concerned.

Waited, waited, waited...FedEx...that's a completely different story. But anyways, I came home one day to find the bike out on the porch.

People complained that it was relatively "unassembled" when they got it. It was, but no worse than I would have expected. It's a bulky item shipped in a large box, but still has to be compact enough for relatively easy handling.

I had to install the front wheel, fork and handlebars, the crank, the pedals, and the seat. Instructions were mostly clear and I had no problems. The rest of the process was adjusting, which was not difficult either.



As I assembled it, I charged the battery so I could immediately take it out for a ride.

Throttle rolls in exponentially, which makes it seem slow at first, but when I got on it, it kept accelerating and accelerating. I'm a big guy, so it takes a bit to get me up to speed, but the motor is torquey and pulls just fine once you get it rolling. 750 watts moves things along nicely. Pedal assist seems to kick in more immediately than the throttle does making it easy to squirt across intersections in town.

It's pleasant to ride and feels solid. The gear selector and brakes were easy to adjust and setup with minimal watching of Youtube videos. The shift indicator matches up perfectly with the gears (like, when the arrow points to 1, you're actually in 1st gear, etc).

Brakes are highly effective. Some criticized the lack of hydraulic brakes, but they are plenty good enough.

The Core 5 is supposed to top out at 20 on throttle alone, but the motor usually cuts at 22. On pedal assist level 5, I can easily get 25-30 mph and keep up with traffic in town. It feels fast.

Range is excellent, but the battery does suffer from voltage lag. What seems to happen is that the battery goes from 5 bars to 2 rather quickly, then stays on 2 bars for a LONG time before dropping to 1. At first, I thought my battery might be a dud. Turn off the power for a bit and the battery creeps back up a bar. Riding on throttle alone, and admittedly hammering on it as much as possible, going between 15-22 mph, I can easily get 16 miles before battery cutout. I've never run it to empty while "taking it easy", but keeping the speeds to around 10 mph got me 17 miles with 2 bars of battery remaining. 20 miles on a charge if you were at all careful would be no problem.

Probably the only thing I miss from the old Vivi is the front shock. The Core 5 can be a little rough on unpacked or unimproved trails. You can ride them, but it's best if you go slow.

As for the motor protections...twice I've had them "kick in" and prevent an overheat/meltdown situation. Both have happened when I kept the motor at a sustained high speed for a long period of time. The most recent was yesterday.

A buddy and I went for a 12 mile ride on a local trail. He arranged for us to be picked up by a somewhat sketchy aquaintance and shuttled back up to the start point where our vehicles were parked.

I figured there might be issues. Instead of waiting, right before we got to the end, I turned and rode the 11 miles back up the trail on battery power alone. I set up a makeshift cruise control earlier and had set the speed on about 16 mph. About 43 minutes in, the motor hit thermal shutdown.

I started pedaling. As I pedaled, I powered down the controller and powered it back up. I set the cruise for 10 mph and made it the rest of the way with no further problems and I never had to stop the bike. Within a minute or two, I had the speed back up to 15 mph or so.

If I hadn't owned the Vivi, I would view that as an annoyance. But now I'm almost thankful. It's MUCH better than the alternative...when this happened with the Vivi, the "thermal shutdown" consisted of melting down the motor itself...which I was never able to get fixed.

I beat my buddy back to the start point. To be fair, his guy was 1/2 hour late. But, I had no problem going 11 miles in 45 minutes or so. According to my GPS, I averaged about 14 mph, even after the shutdown.

With the Core 5, you can monitor wattage output from the motor. When I was doing 16 mph, the wattage varied between 30-60 watts. When I slowed to 10, wattage dropped to between 10 and 15 watts. Huge difference, both with battery consumption and stress on the motor. Hence why I said 20 miles would be no big deal on battery if you stayed around 10 mph. (CORRECTION - I thought there was a decimal point, but there wasn't. Actual wattage was 300-600 watts at 15 mph, and 100-150 watts at 10 mph. This makes more sense).

You can also adjust the wattage output in increments all the way down to 300 watts max to prevent hitting the overload to begin with. Of course, lowering the wattage will kill your top speed...

I'm at well over 1000 miles on the Core 5 as of the date of publication. One thing that I have noticed is that the bike tends to eat rear spokes. So far, I've broken 3. This might be user error due to not tensioning spokes correctly, or it could be because the 750w motor is powerful enough to overcome the strength of the spokes. But I've never had it happen on any other bike, even the two other ebikes I have had experience with. 

Other than that, just minor adjustments and maintenance. I'll soon be coming up on a year with this bike and I'm still very happy with how it functions. 

The Indio Telecaster Classic- A lot of guitar for $100

 

INSTANT VERDICT SUBJECT TO CHANGE:

The Good: Looks, feels and plays like a much more expensive guitar. Neck is amazing. Price point allows upgrades. 

The Bad: The pickups sound good but the output is weak. 

The Verdict: You want to try out a Tele but don't want to break the bank? Here's your next guitar. 

A while back, I got this Indio Telecaster to satisfy my itch to have a Telecaster for recording. 

If you're looking for a brand new guitar to use as a backup or for a beginner, you can't go wrong with this one. It's also an excellent platform for modding to get a Tele style guitar that's exactly the way you want. 

Fit and finish are great. Sound is good, but the pickups could be hotter. On the other hand, they have a really smooth and mellow tone that sounds great on recordings. 

The neck is wide and comfortable, and the grain in the wood is top notch. 

Honestly, the only thing one might need to do to make this a seriously good instrument is upgrade the pickups to something with a little more power. Everything else is playable right out of the box. The guitar intonates well, stays in tune, and plays nicely.

I've owned this guitar for several years now, and I find that I go to it more than some of my more expensive guitars. It just sounds good and plays very nice. I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested into getting into guitars, or if you're a serious player looking for a cheap second guitar or a platform for modifications. 

You can find the Indio for around $100 on sale from various places, including eBay and Amazon. 

The Steak Ninja. Gimmick? Good to Go?

INSTANT VERDICT SUBJECT TO CHANGE:

The Good: Cheap. Seems to work. 

The Bad: Hard to clean. 
The Verdict: At this price, what do you have to lose?

I like steak. If it were up to me, I'd eat it several times a week. But, good steak is expensive, and steak cheap enough to eat several times a week is better suited for covering the seats in a fine luxury car.

I experimented with a couple of different ways to tenderize a cheaper cut of steak to make it more edible.

Brining was the first. Simply putting a generous coating of kosher salt on both sides of the meat and letting it set did make it more tender. But, it wasn't a huge improvement and it made the meat overly salty in places, even after thoroughly rinsing.

I tried Sous Vide, and while I like the results of that for many things, steak is not one of them. It simply doesn't have the same flavor as a steak seared in cast iron or fast-cooked on a grill.

Finally, the Steak Ninja.

First off, the box contains several words and phrases that I like. Ninja, kick-ass, and meat. But wait, there's more!

When you press this into a piece of meat, those 56 blades penetrate and cut through the muscle fiber. Basically, it gives you a head start in the race to chew your own food. 

The Steak Ninja is a version of a device called a jaccard, which has been around for a while. So, even if you haven't heard of it, it's not exactly innovative. But, it was cheaper than any of the other jaccards that I saw for sale on Amazon. 

The blades are flat and directional. Meaning, you can run the Steak Ninja many times in different directions to make the meat more tender. 

Don't play around with it. The thing is dangerously sharp. Also, make sure you know your target and what's behind it...lol. Most often, I use the Ninja while the meat is still in the foam pack to ensure that it penetrates all the way through. But, you'll want to do this on a cutting board, not a formica countertop. 

Side effects: Thin cuts of meat become thinner. Figure a 3/4" steak becomes 1/2". You'll have to adjust your cooking times accordingly, or buy thicker meat. The last time, I used it on a 1.5" sirloin tip roast and the finished product came off the grill at approximately 1" thick, which was perfect. 

Other side effects: the meat will cook quicker. People say this is because the heat penetrates the meat through the holes, but I think it's because the meat ends up thinner. 

Things I thought would be a problem, but weren't: I figured this would dry the meat out. I've heard for years you're never supposed to use a fork to turn steaks on the grill, because any holes you poke in the meat would allow all the juices to get out. And now, with the Ninja, I'm poking 56 holes at a time in it. That didn't hurt the steaks at all. In fact, if anything, meat prepared with the Ninja comes out juicier than normal. I don't know why, but it's always good. 

Things I didn't consider would be a problem that are:  Cleaning. You have to hold the thing open by hand to get to the blades. The first time I did it, I got an inadvertent blood sugar test in the tips of two of my fingers. You REALLY have to take care to get to the blades. You can lock it closed, but you can't hold it open, so you're grabbing it tightly with one hand and cleaning with the other (I used a nylon bristle brush). 

That aside, all of the steaks that I've done with this have come out way more tender and tasty than they had any business being. I got a chuck shoulder steak (not a Flatiron) and it was tender and juicy. So was the aforementioned sirloin tip roast. Very good texture, with minimal toughness. 

Here are the pros and cons of the Steak Ninja. 

Pros: Easy to use. Cheap. Actually works. Maybe fun, too, if you're a bit sadistic. 

Cons: Thinner steaks. Does take some time to do multiple steaks. Dangerous to clean. 

All in all, if you're wanting to eat steak more, and your budget won't allow, this might be a worthwhile investment.